Archive for the ‘bears’ Category

By far the most popular entry in the Bearskin Blog now is this moose picture, taken in June by our head housekeeper, Crystal:http://bearskin.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/best-moosebest-moose.It’s not uncommon for 50-70 people to click on that blog entry every day. Statistically it has routinely been Google’s most clicked moose image. That moose makes people happy.

There were, however, a few good bear stories. Some of our very pro-environment staff members decided to keep a small compost pile going in a 5 gallon bucket. Seemed like a good idea, until one day the bucket turned up totally clawed open and chewed apart. Plastic doesn’t seem to be much of a bear barrier.

I used to be really annoyed by Bearskin’s dumpsters. (Or as Dee always corrected us: they are “containers,” not “dumpsters.”) Throwing away the trash here is a weight-lifting workout, not only because the bags of garbage are heavy, but because just getting the bags into the dumpster takes a lot of muscle.

Our trash container lids don’t simply open and close. Oh no, you have to wrestle several long heavy metal “bear bars” out of slots across the top of the dumpster lid, then lift the 4 billion pound hinged metal lid up far enough that it goes crashing over against the other side of the dumpster with a huge boom — momentarily dispelling any sense of quiet or solitude in the woods for at least 50 miles around the dumpster.Then you heave the bulky trash bags up over the edge of the trash container, pry your fingers under the thick metal lid, awkwardly lift the cumbersome cover back up once again and let it freefall with another big bang back into position.After that, you have to find where you dropped the unwieldy metal bars that go across the top, properly reposition them, and finally, fiddle with the clumsy bolts on the bar ends.